- Joined
- Nov 16, 2012
- Messages
- 5,596
One other quick tidbit of info... A fellow member recently sent me an AXA toolholder to have the slot widened to hold a 5/8" shank to accommodate a knurling tool. The mod is trivial but more significantly, I did a Rockwell test on it as I recall him mentioning it was an inexpensive import holder. It was RC 35 which means it was moderately heat treated (most raw metal is very low at/around 10-15 RC which is really below the normal standards of the C-rating). I have quite a few tool holders purchased at different times and places and all of them are heat treated -some more than others but nonetheless, I think this helps keep the part from deforming in critical areas.
Morale of the story: The wedge type units seem to have significant agreement in having an upper edge and from what I've seen, even the inexpensive import units are reasonably well made and the $50 difference in price over a piston type is a small price to pay when amortized over a lifetime... Finally, with tool holders costing between 10 to 20 bucks, you can't make e'm that cheap as the cost of heat treating them is that much alone. As George appropriately mentioned, get some better bolts and decent allen wrenches. I had to buy a bag of 200 to replace all mine. The bag was 20 bucks and they're good and hard metal.
Ray
Morale of the story: The wedge type units seem to have significant agreement in having an upper edge and from what I've seen, even the inexpensive import units are reasonably well made and the $50 difference in price over a piston type is a small price to pay when amortized over a lifetime... Finally, with tool holders costing between 10 to 20 bucks, you can't make e'm that cheap as the cost of heat treating them is that much alone. As George appropriately mentioned, get some better bolts and decent allen wrenches. I had to buy a bag of 200 to replace all mine. The bag was 20 bucks and they're good and hard metal.
Ray